The McKinney Planning and Zoning Commission approved the city’s 2040 comprehensive plan, which was presented at a P&Z meeting on Sept. 25. The 2040 plan has been in the works for the last three years, Director of Planning Jennifer Arnold said at a council work session in August. “Our comprehensive plan document is a policy document for the city; it provides primary vision for growth and development and master planning for things like land use and transportation,” Arnold said in the work session. According to the presentation, the planning department hosted open houses, online forums and outreach meetings in order to gain community feedback and develop a plan that addresses residents’ wants and needs, which lead to a focus on community desires and aspirations, physical opportunities on the ground and market potential. The presentation showed that 68 square miles of a total of 116 square miles in McKinney have been developed, meaning 40 percent of the city still remains unincorporated, and by 2040 the population is expected to be 301,129. According to the presentation, one way the city is attempting to utilize this empty space and continue to develop to keep up with growth is by building out the city by district. “The approach that we've used in McKinney is really to identify districts that are associated with unique assets," Mark Bowers, Kimley Horn practice building and leader of the 2040 plan project, said in the work session. "You can create unique areas around those assets, and really the intent is that you can have districts in the community that aren’t competing with each other, and people can choose where they want to go to live, work or play.” These districts will include the scenic district, the medical district centered around the existing hospital and others that will be curated around their characteristics. The plan also highlights a master thoroughfare plan, economic development strategy, fiscal health strategy and public investment strategy to provide more public services. The plan will move forward to be considered for approval by City Council at a meeting Oct. 2.